Editorial
Preparedness against earthquake
We need to get something on the ground
TWO images about the latest tremor in Mymensingh and Dhaka have jolted us into a sort of apprehension of what could have happened if the intensity of the earthquake were higher on the Richter scale. First, as it is, damages were inflicted at Dhuraura and Haluaghat in Mymensingh, Durgapur in Netrakona and Nalitabari in Sherpur. Secondly, panicked students of Dhaka University jumped out of their dormitories, many of them hurting themselves and landing in hospitals.
Experts are apprehensive that a large tract of Bangladesh being vulnerable to earthquake because of the unstable tectonic plates it is sitting on or is adjacent to and since no major earthquake visited the region in the last 100years, we might be in for a major seismic catastrophe.
How prepared are we? Earthquake-prone countries in the world have known the hard way that the onslaught of an earthquake cannot be predicted, far less its course. Yet, depending on tested best practices in quick public reflexes, fortified housing and civil defence preparedness, the overall loss of life and property can be substantially minimised.
A seminar organised by Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon on Monday stressed the need for measures to strictly enforce the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC). There cannot be any second opinion on this. But what about the scores of buildings and structures, many of them high-rise, that abound in the city without in-built safeguards against earthquake? True, even in regard to new constructions, we do not have the supervisory or enforcement capabilities in place to ensure that they are erected in compliance with the building code. That aspect cannot be overlooked. But the big issue is to make sure that the buildings that are already on the ground are surveyed, their vulnerabilities assessed and their risk rating recorded so that these can be reinforced with suitable shock absorbing materials within a timeframe.
Simultaneous with the two-pronged strategy for strengthening the existing buildings and ensuring earthquake-sensitive new construction activities, awareness should be built among the public about the do's and don'ts within a civil defence skill development programme.
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